Deick



4 UNTED STATES PATENT y OFFICE.

'I'LLIAM FRANCIS IIENDRICK, OF VINFIELI), IOlVA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOIiI. L. GLASS, OF SAME PLACE. i

POT onl LID LIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,063, dated November26, 1889.

Application iiled July 2, 1889. Serial No. 316,305. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANCIS KEN- DRICK, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at VViniield, in the county of Henry and State of Iowa,have invented a new and useful Pot or Lid Lifter, of which the followingis a speciiication.

This invention has relation Vto pot or lid lift-ers, and, thoughespecially adapted for the purpose mentioned, it will be apparent fromthe appended description that the device may serve as tongs and beapplied to numerous uses. l l

Among the objects in View are to provide a device so constructed as tobe adapted to automatically grip t-he edge of a lid or take into anopening therein, or to'grip the edge of a culinary vessel, or in factany other object the proportions of which will permit of the deviceoperating upon the same.

A further object of the invention is to construct the device in such amanner that the greater the amount of weight to be lifted by the devicethe greater the gripping action thereof.

Vith these general objects in view the invention consists in certainfeatures of construction hereinafter speciiied, and particularly pointedout in ille claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective of a deviceconstructed in accordance with my invention, the saine being in the actof gripping a stove-lid. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the sainedisconnected from the lid. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are details in perspectiveof the three castings or sections forming.

the completed device.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of thedrawings.

In my invention I construct the same of three sections of preferablycast metal, which I shall designate, for convenience, the liftingsection1, the locking-section 2, and the handle-section 3. The lifting-section1 is provided with a lid-lifting tongue 4 at its front end, and in rearof the same is recessed the remainder of its length, as at 5, andprovided with opposite perforations 6 at about the center of the recessand in the side walls thereof, and with similar perforations 7 in saidside walls near their rear ends. This completes the section 1. Thelockingsection 2 is simpl y a lever," and is provided at its forward endwith abifurcation forming opposite divergent tines S, terminatingsubstantially opposite the end of the lid-entering tongue of the section1, and at the juncture of the tines with the lever and upon its under.surface are formed opposite lugs 10, which are designed to space thelockingsection from the lifting-section by reason of the lower ends ofthe lugs coming in contact with the upper edges of the walls of therecess 5. The locking-section terminates at its rear in a thumb-lever11, which projects beyond the rear end of the section 1. rlhelocking-section 2 at substantially its center is provided with adepending perforated bearing-lug 12, which aligns with the central pairof perforations in the side walls of the recess 5, and through the saineis passed a bearingpin 13, by which means the section 2 :is pivotallyconnected with the section 1.

The handle-section 3 comprises at its rear end an ordinary handle 14,and terminates at its forward end in a reduced perforated ear 15,through which is passed a pintle 16, by which means said handle-sectionis pivoted in the rear perforations formed in the walls of the recess 5of the section 1. Forward of the perforated ear a section 3 is providedwith an upwardly-projecting cam 17, which takes under and when in acertain position rides against the surface of the thumb-lever, as willbe hereinafter apparent, and between the fulcrum of the section 2 andthe section 3.

The operation of my invention is as follows: To grip an article thethumb-lever is depressed by the thumb of the operator and the edge ofthe article inserted intermediate the tines and the tongue of thesection 1. The thumblever is now released and the article lifted,

and in so doing the weight of the article or IOO device it is simplynecessary to press lightly upon the thumb-ilever, or in fact by raisingthe lifter to a vertical position the section 2 Will be caused to open.

It Will be noticed that the device consists of three easily cast andassembled sections, which Will require n hand-finishing, and may beprovided at a minimum cost.

Having described my invention, what I claim isl. In a device of theclass described, a lifting-section and a handle pivotally mounted in therear end thereof, in combination With a locking-section pivotallymounted on the lifting-section and provided with depending lugs adaptedto yspace the lifting and locking sections apart, the handle in front ofits pivot adapted to take under and depress the locking-section,substantially as specified.

2. In a device of the class describedJ lifting-section, in combinationwith a handle pivoted in rear of said section and terminating in frontof its pivot in a cam, and a 100king-section pivoted to thelifting-section in front of the handle and eXtended beyond the end ofthe lifting-section and over the handle y to form a thumb-lever adaptedto be elevated at its rear end by the cani, substantially as specified.

3. In a device of the class described, a lifting-section terminating atits front end in a Jtongue and recessed at its rear end, the Walls ofWhich are provided with bearings, in coinbination With a locking-leverhaving a lug aligned and perforated to receive a bearingpin, saidlocking-section terminating at its front end in divergent tines and inrear of its fulcrum in a thumb-lever, and With a handle pivoted in therear of the perforations and terminating in a reduced perforated ear forthe reception of the pin, and forward of the same in a cam operatingagainst the under surface of the thumb-lever, substantially asspecified.

v In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aixedmy signature in presenceof two Witnesses.

WILLIAM FRANCIS KENDRICK.

VVitneSSes:

RICHARD M. SHUSoN, E. S. SELLERS.

